Natalie Bird acted as Disclosure Counsel for the Crown in the recent Court of Appeal case of R v Tredget [2022] EWCA Crim 108​

On 20 January 1981 the appellant, Peter Tredget (who had previously used the names Peter Dinsdale and Bruce George Peter Lee), pleaded Guilty to 11 counts of arson with intent to endanger life or being reckless as to whether life was endangered and 26 counts of manslaughter, all committed in the vicinity of Hull in the 1970s. He was sentenced to detention without limitation of time at Park Lane Hospital. In a previous appeal, the Court quashed his conviction for one count of arson and the 11 consequent convictions for manslaughter. In this appeal, a reference made by the CCRC, the Court upheld his conviction for 8 counts of arson with intent to endanger life or being reckless as to whether life was endangered and 12 counts of manslaughter. The sentence remained undisturbed.

Natalie’s role in the case involved reviewing, analysing, and scheduling over 50,000 pages of material which had been stored for decades within Humberside Police’s archives.

The case has set a precedent for the way in which appeals following Guilty pleas are to be considered by the Court of Appeal, and has already been cited in the recent and highly-topical case of R v AAD, AAH and AAI [2022] EWCA Crim 106 in the context of victims of trafficking.

Judgment: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2022/108.html

BBC News article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-60304365